Abortions Will Not Cease Women Will Continue to Fight for Equality

Women Will be Forced to Resort to Life-Threatening Decisions Prior to 1973

I have no doubt that younger Americans born after or just before the Supreme Court’s decision in 1973 which supported Roe v Wade, have a misguided belief that abortions rarely occurred in America. Prior to the 1973 ruling, women who could afford the expense would travel to countries where abortion was legal.

Those who did not have the necessary funds found “doctors” who worked in unsafe and unsanitary locations would perform the procedure, and some would use various objects on themselves. In the latter two situations, many women would experience a serious injuries, and others lost their lives due to infection or other interior damage.

An Extremely Difficult Decision

Another fact I fear many Americans do not understand. Choosing whether or not to have an abortion is one of the most difficult decisions a woman must make. Even when an unwanted pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, the decision is extremely stressful.

Such a difficult decision is about more than physical health. It is about the future. The reasons women seek an abortion are many, including mental health and the alteration of their futures. This is why no one should be allowed to make this decision other than the woman who finds herself with an unwanted, unplanned pregnancy.

Let’s Look at One Group: Teenage Pregnancies

Around 82% of teen pregnancies are unplanned.

Parenthood is the main reason why teen girls drop out of school. Around 51% of teen mothers are unable to attain a high school diploma.

Five out of every 10 girls say that their first interaction was unwished or involuntary.

Amongst industrially developed nations, the USA faces the highest rates of teen pregnancy and teen abortions.

I focused attention on young girls because the same red states and white, male, Republicans who want to ban all Abortions support restrictions on methods of birth control. This is clearly support for extremist Christian leaders who oppose any sexual relations between unmarried, heterosexual partners. Mid-twentieth thinking in a 21st-century world.

Nothing Will Stop Women from Deciding their own Fate

Two important and irrefutable facts: neither prostitution nor abortions will ever cease in America. More money has been wasted on attempts to end prostitution in every large city in America than the misnamed “war on drugs.”

Women are guaranteed the right to make decisions about their own bodies by the Constitution, and this is an undeniable truth. These laws in red states will greatly harm disadvantaged women. Wealthy women will find ways to end unwanted pregnancies without great danger to their survival, and these are mostly pure white women. To be brutally honest, this is another display of racism from the right wing.

One of America’s Darkest Days

June 24, 2022, has been added to the list of “darkest days in the United States of America.” On that day, a politically biased Supreme Court overturned a 1973 decision by a qualified and principled Court that protected the rights of women to legally have a safe abortion. Roe v Wade stood for 49 years until the Federalist Society and Moscow Mitch McConnell colluded in the selection of two men and one woman who were unfit to fill vacated seats on the Court. Their only qualifications were a promise to overturn Roe v Wade. Today’s Court is a brazenly right wing with six extremist and regressive justices and three who are progressive and take their oaths of office seriously.

Republicans continue to move our nation in a backward direction, removing more than 60 years of progress. This is why our country is last in quality of life, and near last in education, ending racism, bigotry, and the protection of women’s rights.

Growing Up

Growing up in the 1950s and 60s, I believed that when I reached old age I would see the end of the evils which existed in America. Thanks to self-serving politicians who rule over us and refuse to protect our rights, and work for our needs and wishes, we are not moving into the future, we are moving into our dark past when racism, bigotry, and misogyny were the norm. If this continues, I am glad I will not be one of the living who will have feelings of shame, sorrow, and regret about the demise of my beloved country. May the United States of America rest in peace.

By James Turnage

Find my nine novels on Amazon Kindles

Sources:

PBS: Women reflect on what life was like before Roe v. Wade

NPR: What Abortion Was Like In The U.S. Before Roe V. Wade

Mom Junction: 32 Shocking Facts And Statistics About Teenage Pregnancy

Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Victoria Pickering‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License